Seeber could soon be free

Despite 14-year prison term for role in relative's death, July release eyed

Updated 10:55 pm, Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Katherine Seeber is led to a hearing at Stillwater Town Court in Stillwater, N.Y., in this 2000 archive photo. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union archive)

Katherine Seeber is led to a hearing at Stillwater Town Court in...

Katherine Seeber is taken from a Saratoga County Sheriff's cruiser to her sentencing in Saratoga County Court in Ballston Spa, New York, on April 3, 2001. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union archive)

Katherine Seeber is taken from a Saratoga County Sheriff's cruiser...

Katherine Seeber is shown in an archive photo from 2001. (Times Union archive)

Katherine Seeber is shown in an archive photo from 2001. (Times...

Katherine Seeber is led from the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. May 29, 2012 after her sentencing for her role in the death of her 91-year-old step-great-grandmother in the winter of 2000. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union archive)

Katherine Seeber is led from the Saratoga County Courthouse in...

Times Union staff photo -- Katherine Marie Seeber is lead to court for her latest appearance by a Saratoga County Deputy in Ballston Spa New York August 16, 2000.

(SKIP DICKSTEIN, DG)

Times Union staff photo -- Katherine Marie Seeber is lead to court...

Katherine Seeber is led from the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. May 29, 2012 after her sentencing for her role in the death of her 91-year-old step-great-grandmother in the winter of 2000. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union archive)

Katherine Seeber is led from the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. May 29, 2012 after her sentencing for her role in the death of her 91-year-old step-great-grandmother in the winter of 2000. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union archive)

BALLSTON SPA — Katherine Seeber could be a free woman by mid-July even though she received 14½ years in prison Tuesday for her role in the strangulation of her 91-year-old step-great-grandmother in 2000.

The former Wilton resident sobbed in Saratoga County Court on Tuesday during the first part of her remarks in which she apologized several times to Ruth Witter's son and daughter-in-law, who were in the courtroom.

"I'm sorry for all my actions which contributed to your pain and suffering," Seeber, 30, told Saratoga County Judge Jerry Scarano, noting the domestic violence she experienced growing up and then in her personal relationships. "I offer this to you not as excuse, but as an explanation to all your questions for all these years."

Seeber, 30, invoked religion, saying she wants to eventually help women coping with domestic violence. She also credited programs at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Westchester County for transforming her from a "broken woman of 12 years ago to the woman who stands before you today."

Her apology was one the Witter family had long hoped for, said Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Buckley, who appeared with District Attorney James Murphy III.

His office objected to the defendant's request for youthful offender status and asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence of 17 years under the negotiated plea in which Seeber unexpectedly pleaded guilty earlier this month to manslaughter and burglary. She did so under the rarely used Alford Plea that allowed the defendant to maintain her innocence but admit prosecutors likely could have proved the criminal charges.

Public Defender John Cuilla told the court that Seeber while incarcerated has benefited from self-help, domestic violence and religion programs that have made her a better person, and he asked that she be sentenced to time already served.

He drew a contrast between her turnaround and the numerous run-ins that Seeber's ex-boyfriend and one-time alleged accomplice Jeffrey Hampshire has had since being acquitted in the February 2000 killing.

Cuilla said his client hopes to make arrangements with the state prison system that would allow her to relocate to Washington state to live with her brother when she is released.

Seeber, who has already served more than 12 years of her sentence, was resentenced after her original conviction was dismissed by an appeals court.

She will be eligible for release from state prison on July 18, state officials said.

One potential hurdle to Seeber's early release in July could be the 18 citations for breaking rules that she's accumulated over the years in county and state prison, according to Murphy. Early release is awarded to model prisoners.

When she entered state prison in April 2001, Seeber was given credit for 415 days she had served in the Saratoga County jail. She has remained in custody since she was returned to the Saratoga County jail in July 2011.

Seeber was also sentenced to 2½ years of post-release supervision. That will begin when she leaves prison and is expected to end in December 2014 if freed in July, said Linda Foglia of the state Department of Correctional Services and Community Supervision. If convicted at trial, Seeber would have faced 20 years to life in prison. In rendering his decision, the judge rejected Cuilla's request that Seeber be granted youthful offender status, saying "the interest of justice would not be served." At the time of the killing, Seeber was 18 years old.

Outside court, both Cuilla and Murphy expressed satisfaction with the sentence, which ended a protracted legal battle that split a family and involved a police investigator who mishandled key evidence.

Seeber pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and burglary in January 2001 after Veeder said fibers on her gloves matched those on duct tape found on Witter's mouth. The woman's body was dumped in the Saratoga National Historical Park. A then 19-year-old Seeber testified against Hampshire, for his alleged role in the slaying. He was acquitted. The DA's Office was unaware of Veeder's misrepresentation of evidence, the appellate justices later ruled. He had worked in the State Police Forensic Investigation Center in Albany until he committed suicide in 2008 amid questioning from State Police about violations of lab protocols.